The Fire Sorceress
by Deception'sChosen
Summary: Have you ever wondered if there was a curse worse than Miroku's? Doomed to die before he really lived, nobody thought there was a worse fate... But what if you were cursed to live forever? The gang meets a girl with this curse, and she joins them. R&R plz
1. Chapter 1

**The Fire Sorceress**

Chapter 1

"Damn. Whatever was carrying the shard is gone. It was going too fast."

Kagome slid off Inuyasha's back, stretching. Their group had been chasing after the elusive shard-bearing creature for most of the afternoon, and the thing had managed to finally shake them off in the dense woods at the foot of a mountain.

Miroku and Sango got off Kirara's back, the fire cat gratefully returning to her kitten form and laying down. Shippo sat down next to her too, and the pair were instantly asleep.

"I don't think this is a good place to be, guys."

Inuyasha was glaring into the distance, his nostrils flared. Kagome shot a worried look around the area and asked why while the others kept their weapons ready.

"This place is home to a tribe of fire-bird demons. They generally are fine with leaving people alone, but if we're too close to their turf, they'll attack."

"What do they look like?"

Miroku began trying to look up into the sky, but the thick leaves and branches blocked his sight.

"When they're in their battle forms, they look like huge hawks encased in fire. In their other form, they look like humans with bright hair colors. Red, orange or white. Their eyes are usually pale blue, but they can be red or orange too."

Kagome nodded and set her bag down, pulling out her sleeping bag.

"Well, we won't move anymore tonight. Then we'll go on in the morning and go to them and ask if we can restock on supplies. You said they were peaceful."

"No I didn't. I said that they will leave people alone, unless they invade their territory. These yokai kill their own for trespassing. The only way to go in and live to tell the tale is to be invited."

Kagome chewed her lip as Miroku built a fire and Sango sat down next to her, unstrapping her armor and letting it drop in a pile next to her.

"Inuyasha, come on and sit. They won't come after us just because you stopped watching."

The white haired half demon sighed and sat down next to Kagome, smiling when she pulled out his ramen.

Darkness fell as they ate, crickets began to sing and the companions fell into comfortable silence. Inuyasha yawned and leaned back and closed his eyes. Kagome smiled and poked him in the chest, making him open one eye.

"What?"

"Aren't you worried anymore? You were so anxious before, why so calm now?"

"They don't like to move around at night. They may have great eyesight in the daytime and heat vision at night, but their bodies slow down in the cooler air."

"Oh."

Soon, all of them were sleeping. Sango slept near Kirara and Shippo while Miroku slept nearer to the fire, shivering, and Inuyasha slept with Kagome in her sleeping bag. When Inuyasha and Shippo both sat up a few hours later, startled awake by the sound of a frightened yell, the sun had not yet risen. Kagome sat up when she felt the crackle of a time shift.

"Do you know of any other time-travelers Inuyasha?"

"No. Just you…"

He stood and walked a short distance, looking back over his shoulder as Miroku and Sango both rose from their sleep. Miroku's clear violet eyes were trained the same direction as Inuyasha's, both seeming to sense a presence not too far from the camp.

"One of us needs to go check it out."

Inuyasha nodded, biting his lip. He would have to be very careful if he went to search whoever had shouted. If the fire-bird yokai had gotten hold of a trespasser, there would be little he could do but come back and get the others out of there. He had to be fast, but also careful to avoid detection. If one of the yokai saw him in their territory, it would not matter if it was nighttime and cold, they would attack.

"I'll go, Miroku. The rest of you get ready in case we have to run."

Without looking back, he sprinted into the dark woods.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Fire Sorceress**

Chapter 2

Inuyasha carefully made his way deeper into the forest, the faint burning smell he had picked up at the camp was getting stronger, and he could see branches torn off of trees nearby. Something had fallen from the sky at a angle, taking out the branches and blackening the trees as it went. He stopped when he saw a body laying in the middle of a charred circle of grass.

The person wore a buttoned shirt and a pair of heavy blue pants that Inuyasha recognized as blue jeans from Kagome's time, a few smoking strips of fabric left where the shirt's sleeves had been. Her hair was down to her waist, a bright orange-red tangle with sticks sticking out of it. He took a cautious step toward her, then jogged up next to her when he didn't notice anything coming on for an attack.

"Oh no…"

He saw her head was twisted so it almost looked like she could see directly behind herself. Her mouth was open and her eyes made her look like she had died completely shocked by her fate.

"Well, I'll make sure we can bury you someplace safe…"

He picked up the limp girl and began to go back to the camp. He knew she was at least half yokai, but he could also smell traces of human blood in her. Maybe her mixed parentage had called down the other yokai's wrath…

When he got back, he told Shippo to turn away. He knew the boy had seen death before, but this girl's death made her look like she may still be alive, if her head hadn't been hanging so loosely.

Kagome covered her mouth when she saw the body, gently reaching out to touch the bright hair, then pulling her had back as if she had been burned.

"What will we do with her? Bury her?"

Miroku nodded, carefully closing the staring blue eyes before clearing a space for Inuyasha to place the body.

"Who will carry her?" Sango asked as Kagome carefully covered the girl's face with a handkerchief, thinking that the redhead couldn't be more than twenty or so.

To their surprise, Inuyasha said that he would carry both Kagome and the dead girl in the morning to a safe place so they could bury her. Inuyasha seemed unusually saddened by the death of this girl. Shippo asked why while he carefully avoided looking at the body.

"She was part human. I can smell it on her. She can't be from around here, though, just look at her clothes… She may have stumbled into their territory and died while she was trying to escape."

Miroku sighed and sat down, near the body, absently touching the rosary around his arm.

"I'll stay up. She needs somebody to keep vigil before she's buried. The rest of you go to sleep."

The others settled back slowly into sleep, Miroku's eyes wandering over them. The sun had just began to paint the sky red when the monk heard a loud crack from the right. He looked down at the corpse and heard the crack again, this time seeing the woman's head jerk under the cloth.

"What the hell?"

The woman's whole body jerked a few times, by then the whole group was awake and watching the corpse's strange behavior. Neither monk nor miko sensed evil in the body, so neither tried a spell to dispel demons. The body went still, and Inuyasha let out a breath, rubbing his nose.

"Well, I didn't see that coming… Weird-hey! She's breathing!"

Indeed, the woman's chest rose and fell, the handkerchief fluttered off her face as she sat up. Her eyes were a little confused, but she seemed to be perfectly healthy. If the others hadn't seen her broken neck last night, they would never have thought she had been dead only minutes ago. Kagome spoke up first.

"Excuse me? Miss? What… what the hell just happened? Who are you? _What _are you?"

The woman looked up at the group, a small smile on her face.

"I'm Yukako." Her eyes fell on Miroku's hand and she raised her eyebrows. "And you have a death curse on you, monk."

Miroku instinctively grabbed his right wrist, his eyes wide with surprise.

"How do you know of this curse?"

Yukako smiled and pulled a twig from her hair.

"I knew your grandfather. I must say, you look just like him."

"EH?!"

Kagome noticed that one of the woman's shirt buttons had come undone and saw a strange glint. Kagome suddenly felt an uncomfortable pulse of power coming from the woman. She pulled another twig from Yukako's hair and murmured softly to the newcomer.

"You have a curse of your own…"

"How could you have known my grandfather? How old are you?"

Yukako groaned and began to unbutton her shirt, letting it fall open, revealing a thin black lace bra. However, everybody's eyes were drawn to the sparkling clear gemstone embedded in the flesh over her breastbone.

"To answer your question, monk… I was a child when I met your grandfather. He was already gone when I reached the age you see me as now."

Shippo walked up and carefully reached out and pulled himself into the woman's lap, examining the gemstone.

"Can't you pull it out?"

Yukako smiled at the boy and held her arms out to her sides.

"By all means, if you think you can, try."

The fox boy's little claws scrabbled at her skin as he tried to get a grip on the gem. He finally got a grip on it and gave a hard pull, but it didn't budge.

"Nope. It doesn't come out."

Yukako chuckled and patted the boy on the head, turning her attention back to the older members of the party.

"So… what is that thing?"

She turned her eyes to Inuyasha, who had asked the question, her blue eyes darkening.

"It's my curse. The monk has a wind tunnel that has doomed him to die. My curse, as you may have figured out by now, is…" she rubbed her neck and stood up with a grim smile. "that I can never die."

"Never?"

"Never. There may be a way to remove the curse, but I have yet to find it. I have lived through this era and have adapted to living in the time of your young miko here. I will help you in your quest in the hunt for the hanyou Naraku."

"Wait," Sango snapped, drawing her sword. "how do you know about our quest?"

"I have heard of all of you. The monk has to kill Naraku to save himself from the curse, the inu hanyou is after revenge, the miko needs the Shikon no Tama completed… And you are after your reanimated dead brother. An immortal hand may prove useful."

Yukako glanced up at the sky just as Inuyasha caught the smell of fire. Her voice was calm, almost bored, when she spoke.

"Ah. My presence has been noted, I see."


End file.
